Seniors' Intraoperative Management Under Locoregional Anesthesia Integrating Virtual Reality

Original registry description

This study aims to evaluate the acceptability of intraoperative virtual reality in elderly patients under spinal anesthesia.

For the past decade, virtual reality (VR) has been expanding across various medical applications fields. Regarding surgery and anesthesia, VR was used during different procedures such as orthopedics surgery of the upper extremities under regional anesthesia blocks, hip and knee arthroplasties, dental care and induction of anesthesia, especially in pediatrics. Using VR during surgery can reduce pain, anxiety, quantity of sedation used and time in the PACU. Unfortunately, the adherence to VR specifically among adults aged 65 and over is not thoroughly defined in the scientific literature and should be investigated in order to determine the spectrum of use of this tool. However, VR has been used as an anxiolytic and analgesic in elderly patients during rehabilitation exercises, such as physiotherapy treatment after surgery or vestibular rehabilitation after experiencing dizziness. The main objective of this study is to determine if a virtual reality headset can be tolerated during surgery under spinal anesthesia in patients aged 65 years and older. 55 patients over 65 years old having an elective surgery will be recruited. The total time for which the patient will wear the virtual reality headset during the surgery will be measured and a semi-structured post-operative questionnaire will assess the overall patient satisfaction. Simultaneously, the influence of the type of scenario chosen on the patient's tolerance to the VR headset will be established (secondary objective details listed below) Study Center: Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre (CIUSSS) de l'Est de l'Ile de Montreal (CEMTL), University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada